


Free Coffee

by Dawn_Blossom



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, Grima works in a coffee shop, Laevatein doesn't know what she likes but Grima's gonna change that someday, because coffee is as close as you can get to raising the dead in a nonmagic au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-10-12
Packaged: 2020-12-09 15:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20996834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawn_Blossom/pseuds/Dawn_Blossom
Summary: It isn’t that Grima is turning soft… It’s just that the girl studying in the corner of the coffeeshop looks as dead inside as Grima feels.





	Free Coffee

**Author's Note:**

> Sometimes when you ship a rarepair you just have to feed yourself...

Grima is not a generous person. Her, helping people? Not if she has a choice. Her job as a barista is absolute hell, and every day she comes a little bit closer to saying “fuck it” and just punching a customer in the face. 

If only she didn’t need the money. (She has her father to thank for those particular woes. Nothing says “love ya, kid” like running your company to complete ruin and then dying.)

So if anyone saw her prepare a cup of coffee and bring it to a non-paying customer, they would surely question their own sanity. 

It isn’t that Grima is turning soft… It’s just that the girl studying in the corner of the coffeeshop looks as dead inside as Grima feels.

“Here,” Grima says, slamming the drink down on the table. “You know it’s stupid to come here if you aren’t going to order something, right? That’s what libraries are for.”

“... Oh,” the girl says, looking up from her book. (It’s about blood poisoning. Grima wonders if she’s pre-med or just morbid.). “I’m waiting for my sister. She comes here often. Her name is Laegjarn. Do you know her?”

Grima rolls her eyes.

“I get hundreds of college students in here every day,” she says. “I don’t keep track of them.”

“She’s kind. She buys me drinks.” the girl says. She pauses, staring at Grima. “Why did you give me a drink? You don’t know me or my sister…”

Grima scowls.

“It’s my right as an employee to hand shit out if I want to,” she says. “And you look like you need to hurry up and get a caffeine addiction already.”

“Is that so?” 

The girl’s red eyes meet Grima’s own. Her gaze is dispassionate and distant. Grima thinks again that she seems dead inside, and perhaps it is even worse than the stillness inside Grima’s heart. Grima knows rage. There is no spark of anger in this girl’s expression, even after being snapped at.

How fascinating.

“Laevatein, there you are!” a blonde-haired girl suddenly exclaims from the doorway. There’s something familiar about the blue tips of her hair… Yes, she comes to this coffee shop fairly often, ordering frozen drinks even on the coldest of days. Her name is Fjord or something, Grima thinks.

The girl, Laevatein, turns around slowly.

“Oh… Fjorm…”

Fjord, Fjorm, whatever. Grima deserves credit for getting anywhere close, what with the sheer number of people she has to bother dealing with each day.

“Laegjarn’s running a little late,” Fjorm says. “She needed to speak with the professor after class, but she’ll meet us back at home if you want to walk there with me.”

“Okay,” Laevatein says. 

She begins to pack her things up, and damn it, now Grima’s been standing here too long. Laevatein turns to her with an intense stare, and Grima prepares herself to spit some retort about how it’s not like she has anything better to do but stand around at this shitty job, but then…

“Thank you…” Laevatein says quietly. “For the coffee. It’s cold in this place. The coffee is warm. That’s nice.”

Her lips twitch into a tiny smile that does not reach her eyes.

“... You don’t have to lie,” Grima mutters. The only thing worse than ingratitude is false gratitude. “Next time _buy_ your drink and maybe you’ll actually get something you like.”

“Oh…” Laevatein says. “I… I don’t know what I like. I drink what my sister buys for me. It’s… good.”

“You seriously haven’t tried anything else?” Grima asks incredulously. “How do you know she isn’t picking the worst thing on the menu? Aren’t you curious about what you’re missing?”

“Mmm…” Laevatein meets Grima’s gaze. For the first time all afternoon, Grima sees a trace of something glimmer in her eyes. “Should I… care about something like this?”

“Yes!” Grima exclaims.

“A-Ah…”

“Hey, Laevatein, are you ready to go?” Fjorm interrupts, too loudly to be innocuous. “I want to start making dinner before Laegjarn gets there, or else she’ll beat me to it.”

“Okay,” Laevatein says, at once returning to her emptiness.

Grima finds it incredibly irritating.

Maybe it’s because she saw that flicker of life in Laevatein for just a moment. Maybe it’s because she loathes the world and its penchant for turning people into shells of themselves. 

Or maybe she just hates the sound of Fjorm’s voice.

But if it’s the latter, it doesn’t explain what Grima finds herself doing just a week later.

Laevatein is in the coffee shop yet again. Again, she pulls out a book, and again, she orders nothing. 

WIthout any customer prompting her, Grima prepares a cup of freshly brewed coffee. This time, she adds a pump of vanilla to it.

“Laevatein,” she says, half-nodding in a semblance of greeting. “Here. Drink this, and tell me if it’s better or worse than last week’s.”

“Another free drink?” Laevatein glances between the cup and Grima’s face. “To get me addicted?”

Grima laughs sharply.

“That’s right,” she agrees. “Now hurry up and tell me how you like it.”


End file.
